The girls had planned to ambush and kill their young classmates in the school bathroom.
As Fox 13 News reports, when an 11-year-old student was reported missing from class on Tuesday, staff at Bartow Middle School in Bartow, Florida began looking for the missing girl. They found her in a bathroom with a 12-year-old friend … and four knives, a pizza cutter, a knife sharpener, and a goblet to be used for drinking blood.
This is a map two girls, 11 and a 12 years old, drew up as they plotted to stab & kill their classmates at Bartow Middle School.Fortunately the school’s staff stopped them before anything happened.They reportedly told authorities they wanted to go to hell to be with satan. @BN9 pic.twitter.com/S8rCqtJ95g
— Stephanie Claytor (@ClaytorReports) October 24, 2018
Under questioning, the girls revealed the plan they hatched while watching horror movies over the weekend. According to WFLA, the girls told the police they decided to go to their first class of the day, then meet in the bathroom. Then, they would wait for students to come in so they could stab them to death.
The girls said they had gone online to learn how to quickly kill someone with a knife. In a press conference, Bartow Police Chief Joe Hall stated that the pair had planned to target younger students who would be easier to attack:
“They wanted to kill at least 15 people, and were waiting in the bathroom for the opportunity to find smaller kids that they could overpower to be their victims.”
The girls also planned to cut their victim’s throats so they could drink the blood. Hall said:
“They told us they were Satan worshipers. They did make comments that they were willing to drink blood, and possibly eat flesh.”
After killing at least one and as many as 15 classmates, the girls were going to pile the bodies in a stall, then commit suicide. A police affidavit confirms that the motive was linked to the girls’ conception of devil-worship:
“Killing all of these students was in hopes that it would make them worse sinners ensuring that after they committed suicide [they] would get to go to hell so they could be with Satan.”
Hall acknowledged that the girls’ confession seems incredible, but told Fox 13 that he was convinced of their sincerity: “As I sat there last night [and] watched these interviews, I do not believe this was a joke.”
Bartow PD: Two girls 11,12 from Bartow Middle accused of planning to stab and kill multiple students in the bathroom. Brought knives and sharp objects to carry out their plane. They wanted to drink victims blood from a goblet. They were stopped shortly before the attack. pic.twitter.com/Po5fSXHHC4
— Josh Cascio Fox13 (@joshcascio) October 24, 2018
A follow-up search of the girls’ homes found more evidence of the plot. Detectives found a hand-drawn map of the school with, “Go to kill in bathroom,” written on it. They also discovered messages on the girls’ phones discussing the attack.
According to WFLA, one Snapchat message between them said, “We shouldn’t have met each other lol. Now death is near.” Another message complained about having health class that day, adding, “thank Satan we’re doing this in a bit.” A third mentioned the plan to, “leave body parts at the entrance,” before they killed themselves.
The girls have been expelled from school and are facing multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. District Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd said that she was disturbed by the story, but reassured parents that their children are safe. She told WFLA:
“I want to thank the teachers, the administrators for when they saw something, they heard something, they said something. We don’t send our children to school to be harmed. If you plan on harming any of our children we will take it very credible and turn it over to law enforcement. We will protect them.”